Regina Ames
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August 22, 2001
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing this letter in support of Regina Ames' application. Regina was a student in three of my classes and I have also employed her as a research assistant and as a reader (teaching assistant role) for an upper division course in Peace and Conflict Studies. I therefore know Regina quite well and am confident in my high regard for her intellectual skills, work habits, and integrity.
In her academic work Regina demonstrates a mind of impressive vision and creativity, tempered by discipline and rigor. Her critical thinking skills are unusually well-advanced for a undergraduate, as are her research abilities. She writes with clarity and precision, and is highly articulate in oral expression. In addition, she is a person of high principle and integrity who is eager to apply the knowledge she gains toward the goals of a more just and peaceful world. As a result of her outstanding classroom performance I offered Regina a paid position as a research assistant for a project on diaspora groups in international conflict and conflict resolution.
She proved a great pleasure with whom to work. Her dedication, enthusiasm, and performance exceeded my expectations. Regina's initiative, hard work, organizational skills and substantive suggestions greatly enhanced my research efforts. Impressed by her work ethic and competence, I then asked her to serve as a reader for my upper division course entitled Global Change and World Order. In this capacity she assisted students in their research and writing, and helped me in the grading process. In addition, hers was a welcome presence in the large lecture setting where she seemed always to have a telling illustration to support a theoretical point I would make or a helpful supplementary remark to student questions. I hasten to add that both of the roles of research assistant and reader are customarily filled by graduate students. Regina's maturity more than made up for her undergraduate status however.
In sum, I find Regina Ames to be a highly-principled young woman of many talents and much potential. Her strengths as enumerated above are many-fold, and she would be an industrious asset to any workplace.
Sincerely,
Jerry W. Sanders, Ph.D.
Faculty of Peace and Conflict Studies
International and Area Studies